A/N: Well, this is it. We've all made it to the end! Some of you may have noticed similarities with the show's episode "The Long Goodbye". Believe it or not, but that's pure coincidence. I didn't even know about that episode when I started writing this. I want to thank eveybody who read and escpecially those who took the time to review as well. It means so much to a writer to know what others think of their work. Also, I noticed that the (little stars) I used to distinct different scenes from eachother did not make it into the story lay-out, making it quite confusing. Sorry for that! Enough rambling, let's end this thing!

Special thanks to dfbbear for betaing!

"Watch your defence!" Sheppard shouted. He winced as Lieutenant Davies was taken down by three big Athosian men. He and almost everyone else from Atlantis stood at the side of an improvised football field. Only a skeleton crew had remained on Atlantis; nobody wanted to miss this.

Most of the Athosians were there too, they seemed to be enjoying the game as well.

Not that it was a fair game, not at all. And if you had any respect for the game of football, your toes would curl. What was being played here was anything but football. The eight marines who'd been playing football in the hallways in Atlantis were up against twenty or so Athosian men and women.

The goal was to get the ball across the line, -in this case across the tree line- but it didn't matter how. There were no rules.

The Athosians were ruthless; they tackled every marine who had the ball for more than one second straight to the ground. What the marines didn't know was that Sheppard had told them to do so. He was sure the marines would never play careless again.

Elizabeth came to stand next to Sheppard. "Beckett will be busy when we get back," she observed.

"Hopefully with just some minor cuts and bruises to look over, I told the Athosians to have fun, but to also be careful."

"I think everybody is having fun. It was a good plan. Our people can bond some more with the Athosians; which is always good." Softer, she added, "It will also show everybody you're back to normal again; no one but you could come up with something like this."

Before Sheppard could reply four kids tackled him to the ground, including Jinto, who stood towering over him and was so enthusiastic, he was almost bouncing on his feet.

"Colonel Sheppard, can we play too? Please, Colonel! Can we play?"

Lifting his head of the ground Sheppard saw another three children standing behind Jinto. That made for seven kids who were eager to play; disappointment probably wouldn't be well received. Moreover, who was he to say they couldn't anyway?

"Sure you can, it's not like its football anymore anyway," he muttered. "But be careful ok? I don't need any angry parents because you break something."

The boys cheered and ran away, only to come running back when Sheppard stood again. "You have to play too!" one of the boys shouted, making it sound like an order to Sheppard. The other boys nodded enthusiastically. Before he could object the boys were pulling him along.

Sheppard saluted and said "yes, Sir!" as he was being pulled and pushed, which caused everyone to laugh. Not just the boys, but everyone; the game had been stopped for a while and the crowd was watching as well.

When Sheppard noticed everyone was having fun at his expense he turned to the marines and called, "I'll remember this when I'm making the new sanitary duty rosters!" That sobered them up a bit, but they still snickered. Even Sheppard had to admit, he would have been on the ground laughing if it had been his CO being pulled along by a bunch of kids.

The game had begun again and Elizabeth was watching with Halling and Teyla. "I hope you do not mind the boys. They can be a bit too… enthusiastic sometimes," Halling said.

Before Elizabeth could answer, Teyla already did. "I assure you, Colonel Sheppard does not mind at all. He is having as much fun as everybody else."

Suddenly everyone around them started hooting and cheering, drawing their attention back to the game. Sheppard had the ball, and had somehow managed to get a head start on the others. He was running as fast as he could towards the tree line, hard on his way to scoring a point.

Twenty-five or so Athosians were running after him. They were closing in on him, but Sheppard was getting closer and closer to the tree line. The cheering increased even more as Sheppard made it. He held the ball up in victory and started turning around. However, before he was fully turned, a dozen or so Athosians tackled him, jumping on top of him.

A big 'oooff' went trough the crowd, as people piled up on top of Sheppard. Only an arm was left to be seen.

"Yep, he doesn't mind at all," Elizabeth muttered.